A generally known prior art device and method are known from EP 0 248 307 A1.
This generally known prior art device is employed for detecting those specific imprints, whose printing shows faults, on a sheet on which a plurality of these imprints, typically of security papers, and, in particular, banknotes, have been imprinted. The device of the prior art is also used for cutting the sheet into individual usable imprints, for extracting the faulty ones and for consecutively numbering those imprints without faults. For this purpose, this prior art device includes a first cutting device for cutting the sheet into a plurality of strips each containing several usable imprints, a quality control arrangement for detecting faulty imprints, and a second cutting device for cutting the strips into individual usable imprints. The strips are conducted through a numbering device, which is controlled on the basis of information regarding the position of the faulty imprints received from the previous quality control arrangement. A faulty imprint on a strip remains unnumbered. Thereafter, the strips are cut into individual usable imprints, and the faulty ones are extracted.
Later published DE 199 39 164 A1 discloses a method for processing imprinted materials, wherein the printed image containing a plurality of usable imprints is checked. The imprinted material is separated into individual usable imprints and faulty imprints are extracted.
EP 0 286 317 A1 shows a device for cutting a web into sheets. These sheets are deposited on different stacks as a function of their quality as determined by a control device.